Nakasendo passes to “Nakatsugawajuku,” through restored Chayasaka-no kosatsuba.
Nakatsugawa-juku, in which Rokusai-ichi Market used to be held on days including 3 or 8, flourished as a gateway to Kisoji, and especially the area around Honmachi gives us feel for an atmosphere of kaido. Especially, you can see “udatsu” which is said to be one for fire-prevention or a status symbol (that only rich families can have), on the roof of the old sake brewery house.
It is said that the expression “Udatsu-gaagaranai (cannot get on in the world)” originates from “udatsu.”
Roads at this post station are crooked and have the shape of “square.” It is said that this is for a military purpose or because customers had to be turned away.
◆From Nakatsugawa-juku to Oi-juku
In this portion of the course, the road is paved slightly wide, but the former Nakasendo remains nearly as it was.
Around the Nakatsugawa interchange of the Chuo Expressway, part of the Nakasendo is gone due to the regiona development, etc.
There are “Soto Issin Dosozin (stone statue with one body having both male and female heads),” “Uwajuku-no-Ichiri Zuka” “ Rokujizo,” like stone lantern, which is rare in shape, “Mitsuya-no-Ichiri Zuka ruin” and “Sekido-no-Ichiri Zuka ruin.”
On Jinbeizaka, Ena City, there i “Jinbeizaka Park” which was built by Gifu Prefecture as part of a roadside landscaping project. In this park, there is a contemporary stone monument, on which the ukiyoe by Hiroshige Utagawa, “Kiso-kaido Rokujukyutsugi-nouchi Oi,” is portrayed.
